Unbroken
by HeathenVampires
Summary: Will's death hadn't broken her. Malik's betrayal hadn't broken her. The Count couldn't break her. Ingrid wouldn't let Talitha break her now. Vlad/Ingrid one shot, kind of dark.


**Still don't own the characters. Sadly.**

 **This is a bizarre mix of canon and not canon with some likely confused timelines from season 3 to season 5.**

-YD-

Despite what everyone thought, Ingrid wasn't celebrating being left alone at Garside with Piers. She was celebrating finally being free of having to see Vlad every day. He remembered, she knew he did. Piers was useful, and sweet and compliant but he wasn't what she wanted, what she needed. She needed fire and darkness and the unmistakable sense of doing something so unbelievably wrong they'd be staked if they were found out. Talitha was so boring it physically hurt to watch Vlad with her. Watching him look at her with gooey eyes and a dopey smile, it was impossible for most people to know the truth in his heart. He may be half human, but Vlad was pure evil vampire deep down. It was just that only Ingrid could bring it out of him.

The Count thought he knew the extent of what Vlad had done when he was warring for control with his reflection, that Ingrid had been traumatised solely by Vlad dumping her into the sunlight, that Vlad had left to balance himself with his reflection. They had no idea. Vlad dumping her into the sun had been tough, granted, but that breather therapist hadn't reminded Ingrid how to be happy, she'd reminded her she was too strong to be broken. Will's death hadn't broken her, Malik's betrayal hadn't broken her. And after years and years, the Count hadn't broken her either. Talitha the hippie idiot was not going to break her now. Not even if she was taking Vlad away.

Everyone assumed Ingrid had been sharpening a stake because Vlad had dared be evil and usurp her position as the more evil child. It had nothing to do with that. It had everything to do with the way he'd come to her, reeking of darkness and smirking at her with his fangs, eyes black and voice rough. It was intoxicating, the pure power radiating off him as he offered her a share in his new world order if she submitted. It was easy to ignore the fact he was her brother in light of everything on offer, and Ingrid had nodded her acceptance and let him kiss her. It was rough and sloppy and he tasted like vintage blood, his pale skin glowing in the candlelight as he tore her clothes away, smirking when she tugged at his in turn and letting him pin her down in her coffin. It was frantic, Vlad's fingers bruising her hips as he used her body like a rag doll, and Ingrid doubted he'd even have noticed if she'd come or not as he finished, throwing his clothes on and smirking at her prone form. "By the way, I lied. Thanks for the roll in the coffin."

Vlad had disappeared, and Ingrid ignored the trembling of her limbs from the erotic darkness he'd left her with as she re-dressed. Pure anger swallowed everything else as she went after him, sharpening a stake and going after him. The utter contempt had only grown when he threw her into the sun, and that half fang girlfriend of his had to come to her rescue. Vlad had apologised, but it was empty and hollow and he couldn't look her in the eye. He disappeared to wrestle with his guilt, and Ingrid let herself play along with his "good and innocent" act when he returned as she plotted her revenge all over again. She wondered if Erin would still look at him with those love-struck eyes if she knew why Vlad rejected her hugs unless he was particularly upset. Wondered if Vlad used the erection she'd feel pressed into her stomach on Erin and let himself forget what he'd done.

Adze had been outright hilarious to watch, especially when Vlad sought solace in Ingrid's body while Erin lay dying and Adze rotted in her cage. She would have turned him down if it wasn't so deliciously dark to see him so desperate for her, if he hadn't done his best to make up for what he'd done under the power of his reflection as he whispered caresses over her whole body. Ingrid wondered if Bertrand noticed the smell of shame and Ingrid on his skin when he went back to bite Erin, if his faithful tutor would have stood by him and his 'good heart' if he knew Vlad's eyes flashed black when he came inside his sister.

Ingrid's attempt to get on the VHC was long and arduous, and when Vlad dusted Lansley via Ingrid's careful manipulation, the anger was there in his eyes. It was even more evident when he grabbed her, kissing her roughly and taking her there on the stone floor with a dusted vampire only inches away from them. They righted their clothes and forgot what happened all over again, Vlad losing the fight against his blood lust temporarily and the Count almost disowning him yet again. Ingrid finally scored her place at the VHC, and Adze and Ramanga were 'mostly' dealt with. The VHC seemed to forget that Adze had tried to kill 'the chosen one' with forbidden dark weapons, and Ingrid was content to let them so long as it meant they couldn't argue her place there based on her gender.

Finding out Malik was their brother (or so they thought) had been jarring, and Ingrid wondered if it was worth pushing him further. Blood relation hadn't stopped Vlad. It hadn't mattered in the end, Malik had run off with Erin to spite Vlad and then when he came back, it turned out he wasn't her brother. Ingrid couldn't help but compare them when she and Malik finally tumbled into a coffin together, Malik a rush of anger and hatred to match her own whereas Vlad was the twist of light and dark at war in his heart. Malik sought his own end, but Vlad had never stopped making up for what he'd done their first time together.

Malik's betrayal hit hard, losing her only ally in the fight not to be dusted when it turned out Vlad was half breather. There had only been one more encounter after that with him, no doubt intending to be a soft and gentle goodbye as he planned to go live with his mother, his failing powers evident as he let her control him fully, pinning his body beneath hers and barely clamping down on the urge to bite him as it ended. Then there was Renfield, and Talitha and being arrested and the blood seed. And now, watching Vlad pack up with every intention of leaving forever, Ingrid almost staked him there and then as he asked if she wanted to go with them. As though they could pretend to be normal siblings after everything, as though she could watch him every night with Talitha knowing how it felt to lose herself with him. Piers was convenient, offering her a way to stay where Vlad could always come back to her even though she knew he never would. Casting one last look at the chosen one, Ingrid blinked away the solitary tear that rose to her eye then. She would not be broken.

-YD-

 **I promise to actually work on my crossover fic or NSBN tomorrow! But right now I'm all over one shots and my new Adam!Vlad story... I need to prioritise but I'm terrible at that.**


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